Golf-club head



' G. w. 'MA TERNf Nov. 4,' 1930.

' GOLF CLUB H'EAD v Filed April 1 1924 Patented Nov. '4, 1930 V UNITED,STAT-ES A Nr mic GEORGE W. MATTERN, OF DAYTON, OHIO, ASSIGNOB, TO'THECRAWFORD, MCGREGOR AND OANBY COMPANY, OF DAYTON, OHIO, A CORPORATION OFOHIO GOLF-CLUB HEAD Application mean rn 17,

.brassie and spoon type. Such golf clubs are a usually provided withwooden heads, which are quite susceptible to climatic and temperaturevariations. The preferred material is persimmon wood, although cheapergrades of clubs are made with heads of maple, beech and other woods.Such club heads, even when of best variety of wood have a tendency toswell and shrink, to weather check and to split and are frequentlybroken in'play.

l Vhile various other materials such as phenolic condensation materials,hard rubber, composition, fiber and aluminum have been suggested andtried as a material for golf club heads, these materialshave notgenerally been successful and have not. attained any considerable use,because deficient in some one or more of the requisite characteristics;

I The ordinary and commonly known metals are entirely too heavy to form'a clubv head of the driveror spoon shape. It has been discovered,however, that the metal magnesium,

or magnesium alloys containingmagnesiumin a large proportion afi'ords asuitable ma terial from which clubfheads maybe made, within theestablished range of .weights of such clubs and. which possess the.requisite tensile strength and'elasticity. Such magnesium heads aren'otmaterially heavier than the wooden club heads ordinarily employedand are not subject to the unfavorable conditions and deterioration ofthe wooden heads. vMagnesium or magnesium alloy is found to be'closegrained materiah having a Specific gravity approximating thatof wood,

and which seeminglypossesses peculiar char- 1 p the magnesiumPreferably, l y

with aluminum in the approximateproporgreater'distance. A golf clubissubjected r to a variable and wide range of forces when in play, thereaction to'which cannot be, easilyor readily foretold. The inherentqualities of the magnesium golf club heads,or one composed'in the mainof magnesium is such" that a the reaction of the ball when struck bysuch head is not'only equal to, but is thought to exceed that of awooden golf club head. Atfthe 1924. Serial is. 707,121.

sametime such head avoids the objectionable features of the wooden head.

In adapting. magnesium to golf club manufacture,certain establishedrequirements of conventionality of contour, weight and balance must bemaintained. It is the practice to balance or weight a wooden club headby embedding in'the rear side-thereof a body of lead or other materialof high specific gravity. Such added weight is compensated for by thehigher specific gravity of the magnesium club head. In the case of lightweight clubs, the balancing of a metallic head of the driver or spoontype is achieved conversely by seating in the rear of the head a body ofcharacteristically lighter material, or one of less specific gravity.Insuch case, the metallic head ispreferably rabbeted on its rear side,affording a rearwardly extending base flange, or ledge, coincident withthe sole of the club, upon which a body of other materialsuch as wood,ivory, celluloid, fiber, composition or other material of suitablecharacteristics and specific gravity maybe fixedly seated. The weightand balance of the club is achieved by varyingthe proportions of suchauxiliarybody of characteristically difi'erent material, the main bodyof the club, however, with 'itsintegral hosel and integral rear siumalloy is to be preferred. Aluminum whichhas been sometimes'suggested forsuch purposepossessesa spec fic gravity of 2.50,

whereas the specific gravity of magnesium is approximately 1.75. Forthepresent pur= tionof ninety-four per cent magnesium to sixper cent ofaluminum. To this compound may be added, a small quantity of antimony,bismuthor cadmium. Such alloypossesses a specific gravity of,approximately-1.7 8 and a hardness of 70 Brinell. The relative propor-'tions and added ingredients are mentioned for illustrative, purposesonly, and'are. not

intended as limitations, a j

The object of the invention is to afford a but which will possess aninherent characteristic making it possible to achieve greater distance,and affording improved reaction'of the ball when struck. a

A further object of the invention is to provide olf club heads ofmaterial having specilic gravity somewhat greater than that of wood,thereby compensating for the usual added weight body of the ordinarywooden golf club head, and in the case of light clubs, providing incombination with the metallic head, in lieu of the usual weight orbalance body, a body of less specific gravity, to comply with theconventional contour, size and weight requirement.

With the above primary and; other incidental objects in view as willmore fully appear in the specification, the invention consists of thefeatures of construction, the parts and combinations thereof, and themode of operation or their equivalents, as hereinafter described and setforth in the claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawin gs, wherein is shown the preferred,but obvious ly not necessarily the only form of embodiment of theinvention, Figs. 1, 2 and 3 are respectively, perspective views of agolf club head, of the driver or spoon type, embodying the presentinvention, shown in different positions. Fig. 4 is a transversesectional view.

Like parts are indicated by similar characters of reference throughoutthe several views.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, 1

is a golf club head, and 2 the handle shaft.

The head 1 is formed from metal preferably magnesium or an alloy ofwhich magnesium forms the principal and dominating portion. lVhile ithas been discovered that magnesium andmagnesium alloys possess peculiarqualifications and characteristics, adapting them to the presentpurpose, it is to beunderstood that in View of the fact that otheralloys may becompounded or other metals of low specific gravity,substituted, the present invention is not intended to belimitedspecifically to a single material. V v

lVhile some players may desire a comparatively heavy golf club, or onehaving more weight-than that desired by other players, to meet suchconditions, th'e entire golf club head 1, may be formed from magnesium,or a magnesium alloy, without any insert or embedded portion ofdifferent characteristics. To modify the weight of the club head, whileretaining its traditional shape and proportion and to afford the desiredbalance of the metallic head, the present head is recessed at its rearside and an insert or complementary body 4 of characteristicallydifferent material such as celluloid,wood, fiber, ivory or the like isfixedly attached to the main body 3. A particularly acceptable materialfor this pur pose is the casein product galalith. This is somewhatanalogous to loading or weighting a wooden head with a body of lead orother ballast. In preparing the main body 3 of the head to receive suchcomplementary insert or addition 4, the head is rabbeted as its rearside leaving at the'base or sole of the club a rearwardly extendingflange or ledge 5. The sole of the club is thus continuous from thefront to the rear and integral with the main body, which carries thehosel or neck, to which the handle shaft is connected. The insert isseated in the rabbet formed by the rearwardly extending flange or ledge5, and

is secured by cementing or by means of screws, studs or otherattachment. To further insure a firm and secure seat for thecomplementary body 4, and to afford a slight differentiation of weightor balance, either the complementary insert 4, or the main body of theclub head 3 may be provided with a triangular or grooved depression inthe face of the seating rabbet and the opposing mem be iscorrespondinglyformed to agree with such. recess. In Fig. 3 thecomplementary member 4 is shown recessed with a prismatic face formedupon the main body 3 of the club head, and agreeing with such grooveddepressioni In Fig. 4 this relation is reversed,

and \f shaped groove or depressionfis formed in the main club headmember 3, while the complementary body .43 is shown provided with theprismatic or convex face agreeing with such recess. .Tdvary the weightand balance of the club over an extended range, the relative proportionof the complementary insert- 4 and the main body 8, of the head maybevaried by making one or the other member proportionately smaller, andthe opposing member proportionately larger, as indicated by dotted lines6 in Fig. 4h The extended flange or led 'e- 5*forms a sole plate beneaththe complementary body l, integral with the main body 30f the club head.It is' obvious that inslieu. of this construction, aseparate sole platemight be employed, overlapping and attached to the respective bodies 3and 41. However, the preferred.- construction is the integral,rearward'projecting ledge or flange 5; as before described. While thestriking face of. the club may comprise a continuous metallic surface ofthe main body 1, such body if desired may have formed therein a mortisein whi'ch'is embedded a body of non-metallic material-as is'customaryingolf club manw facture. Such inset body 7 may be of wood, fiber, ivoryor the like, the preferable material, however, being a casein productknown commercially as galalith.

Magnesium possesses the necessary combination of physical properties notpossessed by any of the other metals heretofore tried, which speciallyadapts it for golf club heads. It combines in a workable alloy thenecessary weight, strength and hardness for the purpose, a combinationof qualities better. than wood Without the objectionable characteristicsof wood. By the composite construction described, the traditionalcontour of the club head may be retained with a degree of lightness andbalance to suit the whims and desires of individual players. Suchmaterial possesses characteristics of combined rigidity and elasticityin such degree withother inherent unforeseen qualities, which experimentand experience have shown render it ideally responsive to the strainsand stresses of golf play, and afford unexpected accuracy and distancein the flight of the driven ball.

From the above description it will be apparent that there is thusprovided a device of the character described possessing the particularfeatures of advantage before enumerated as desirable, but whichobviously is susceptible of modification in its form, proportions,detail construction and arrange- I ment of parts without departing fromthe principle involved or sacrificing any of its advantages.

While in order to comply with the statute the invention has beendescribed in language more or less specific as to structural features,it is to be understood that the invention is c not limited to thespecific details shown, but

1. In a golf club of the driver, brassie or spoon type, a non-hollowmetallic body including an integral neck or hosel, said body beingcontinuous from the striking face of the club head to a line rearwardlyof the hosel, an angular recess formed in the rear portion of saidmetallic body and a body of non-metallic material fitted in said recessforming the back of the club and top and side surfaces conforming to andforming continuationsof those surfaces of the. metallic body.

2. In a golf club vof the driver, brassie or spoon type, a golf clubhead including a hosel comprising a body of continuous metal from itsstrikingface to-a line to the rear of the hosel and having in ,thestriking face a mortise, a non-metallic insert seated in said mortise,the rear portion of said metallic body being rabbeted to form an angularoffset the bottom of which forms an integral extension plate continuouswith the sole of prising a metallic body having a socket opening throughits driving face, closed at its rear end to form an abutment wall,animpact body within said socket, seating against the abutment wall, ahosel portion integral with the body of the club head, the headbeingrabbeted rearwardly of said hosel portion and abutment wall to afford anintegral rearwardly extending sole portion and a nonmetallic weightingand balancing body located in said rabbet and contoured in agreementwith said metallic body to conform to the conventional shape of a golfdriver or the like.

- In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this7th day ofApril, A. D. 1924.

' GEORGE W. MATTERN.

